For centuries, naturalists have puzzled over what might constitute the head of a sea star, commonly called a “starfish.” When looking at a worm, or a fish, it’s clear which end is the head and which is the tail. But with their five identical arms — any of which can take the lead in propelling sea stars across the seabed — it’s been anybody’s guess how to determine the front end of the organism from the back. This unusual body plan has led many to conclude that sea stars perhaps don’t have a head at all. But ...

EMBARGOED: Not for Release Until 01 November 2023 at 16:00 (London time) The bodies of starfish and other echinoderms are more like heads, according to new research involving the University of Southampton. The research, published today [1 November] in Nature, helps to answer the mystery of how these creatures evolved their distinctive star-shaped body, which has long puzzled scientists. Echinoderms are a group of animals that includes starfish (or sea stars), sea urchins, and sand dollars. They have a unique ‘fivefold symmetric’ body plan, which means ...

(Memphis, Tenn – November 1, 2023) Neurons talk to each other using chemical signals called neurotransmitters. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have drawn on structural biology expertise to determine structures of vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2), a key component of neuronal communication. By visualizing VMAT2 in different states, scientists now better understand how it functions and how the different shapes the protein takes influence drug binding — critical information for ...

An interdisciplinary international research team has recently discovered that a massive anomaly deep within the Earth’s interior may be a remnant of the collision about 4.5 billion years ago that formed the Moon. This research offers important new insights not only into Earth’s internal structure but also its long-term evolution and the formation of the inner solar system. The study, which relied on computational fluid dynamics methods pioneered by Prof. DENG Hongping of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of ...

If you put a hat on a starfish, where would you put it? On the center of the starfish? Or on the point of an arm and, if so, which one? The question is silly, but it gets at serious questions in the fields of zoology and developmental biology that have perplexed veteran scientists and schoolchildren in introductory biology classes alike: Where is the head on a starfish? And how does their body layout relate to ours? Now, a new Stanford study that used genetic and molecular tools to map out the body regions of starfish – by creating a 3D atlas of their gene ...

In a study published in Nature, researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have proposed a new and promising method of fabricating homogenized perovskite films for solar cells. The process involves inhibiting phase segregation caused by internal cation inhomogeneity to increase conversion efficiency to 26.1%, thus tying the existing record. Their work was also featured as a Nature Editor’s Pick. For solar cells, an important alternative energy ...

In a study published in Nature, researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have proposed a new and promising method of fabricating homogenized perovskite films for solar cells. The process involves inhibiting phase segregation caused by internal cation inhomogeneity to increase conversion efficiency to 26.1%, thus tying the existing record. Their work was also featured as a Nature Editor's Pick. For solar cells, an important alternative energy source, the pursuit of higher conversion efficiency and the attempt to keep the cells table as long as possible are core issues that scientists and engineers all over the world are ...

A new analysis of the bones and muscles in ancient fish gives new clues about how the shoulder evolved in animals – including us. The shoulder girdle – the configuration of bones and muscles that in humans support the movement of the arms – is a classic example of an evolutionary ‘novelty’. This is where a new anatomical feature appears without any obvious precursors; where there is no smoking gun of which feature clearly led to another. The new research, which draws together a range of evolutionary investigation techniques including fossils, ...

In a recent publication in the journal Nature, researchers from the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have made significant strides in biomaterial technology and rehabilitation medicine. They've developed a novel approach to healing muscle injury by employing “injectable tissue prosthesis” in the form of conductive hydrogels and combining it with a robot-assisted rehabilitation system. Let’s imagine you are swimming in the ocean. A giant shark approaches and bites a huge ...

Atrial fibrillation, heart failure and stroke – hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can lead to many serious health conditions and is a major cause of sudden cardiac death in people younger than 35. „The heart muscle is a central engine of the human body. Of course, it is easier to fix a broken engine, if you know how it is built and how it functions”, says Stefan Raunser. “At the beginning of our muscle research we have successfully visualized the structure of the essential muscle building blocks and how they interact using electron cryo-microscopy. However, these were static images of proteins taken out of the living cell. They only tell us little ...

Peptides are biomolecules formed when two or more amino acids that perform key functions in the human organism, such as hormones, neurotransmitters, painkillers and antibiotics, bind together. For this reason, they are much studied and used by the pharmaceutical industry, for example. A study conducted by scientists in the Department of Biophysics at the Federal University of São Paulo's Medical School (EPM-UNIFESP) in Brazil identified significant changes in the physicochemical properties of peptides during a spontaneous process of chemical change called pyroglutamination.  Pyroglutamination is a modification resulting from spontaneous conversion ...

Amsterdam, November 1, 2023 – The Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology (KSMCB), one of the largest and most prominent academic societies in the field of life sciences in Korea, and Elsevier, a leader in information and analytics for customers across the global research and health ecosystems, are pleased to announce a new partnership to publish Molecules and Cells, the flagship journal of KSMCB. This English-language publication will be hosted on Elsevier’s industry-leading online platform of peer-reviewed literature, ScienceDirect, beginning January 1, 2024. Continuing ...

In nature, swarms can accomplish amazing things. Schools of fish can more efficiently find food and migrate. Flocks of birds can confuse predators. Bees, ants, and termites can work together to feed, defend and build their colonies.  Robotics researchers have long been trying to harness this ability to explore environments, capture objects and build structures using robot swarms. “But the problem of how do we efficiently control all those robots is still unsolved,” says David Saldaña, an assistant professor ...

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Lotz as the Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Dr. Lotz will begin her five-year appointment as STScI Director starting February 12, 2024. Previously, Dr. Lotz was the Director of the International Gemini Observatory which is operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, and managed by AURA. “Dr. Lotz is a science driven, accomplished leader,” said Dr. Matt Mountain, President of AURA, which manages STScI on behalf of NASA. “Jen’s passion for the Institute’s mission, to enable the ...

Sperm can modulate their energetics by regulating their flagellar waveform—how the sperm oscillate their tails—in order to adapt to varying fluid environments, potentially optimizing their motility and navigation within the reproductive tract. This research is reported in a study publishing November 1 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. “Our approach allowed us to investigate how variations in viscosity and shear rates affect sperm behavior at the single-cell level, which was not possible using traditional methods,” says senior study author Reza Nosrati of Monash University. Biochemical and biophysical cues within the reproductive ...

Women with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing a procedure called pulsed field ablation (PFA) have just as good outcomes as men with AF undergoing the same procedure, according to a large-scale international study led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This study is the first to compare sex outcomes for AF patients undergoing PFA, which is a new technology and the latest ablation modality that can be used to restore a regular heartbeat. The results also show PFA is safe and just as effective for men as for women. Findings were published October 5 in JAMA Cardiology. “These results are important, as ...

About The Study: Although the prevalence of severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has declined, 1 in 17 U.S. adults still have LDL-C levels of 160 to 189 mg/dL and 1 in 48 adults have LDL-C levels of 190 mg/dL or greater. Among those with an LDL-C of 190 mg/dL or greater, 1 in 4 are unaware and untreated, with a higher proportion for an LDL-C of 160 to 189 mg/dL. These gaps disproportionately affect non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, contributing to disparities in outcomes.   Authors: Salim S. Virani, M.D., Ph.D., of Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, ...

About The Study: In this meta-analysis of 83 neuroimaging studies of adversity exposure and brain function, prior adversity exposure was associated with altered adult brain reactivity to diverse challenges. These results might better identify how adversity diminishes the ability to cope with later stressors and produces enduring susceptibility to mental health problems.  Authors: Niki Hosseini-Kamkar, Ph.D., of the Royal Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is the corresponding author.   To access the embargoed ...

PHILADELPHIA – Americans have less confidence in vaccines to address a variety of illnesses than they did just a year or two ago, and more people accept misinformation about vaccines and Covid-19, according to the latest health survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania. The survey conducted October 5-12, 2023, with a panel of over 1,500 U.S. adults, finds that the number of Americans who think vaccines approved for use in the United States are safe dropped to 71% from 77% in April 2021. The percentage of adults who don’t think vaccines approved in the U.S. are safe grew to 16% from ...

Extreme weather and climate events, such as droughts, heatwaves, and rainstorms, pose serious threats to human health, agricultural production, and energy supplies. These events often occur at the same time, and such "compound extreme events" can cause far more damage than any one single event. Climate scientists from the research group of Prof. Aihui Wang from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, argue in a new study that land–atmosphere coupling (the coupling ...

MIAMI, FL – November 1, 2023 -- Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, announced the publication of a multi-institutional retrospective cohort study about the impact of immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) and single-fraction stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) on radiation necrosis (RN) in patients with brain metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer. The study, titled “Immune Checkpoint Inhibition and Single Fraction Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Brain Metastases from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: An International Multicenter Study of 395 Patients” ...

Landing stably is the precondition for exploring the small celestial body in situ. The surface of small body is weak gravity and irregular, and the surface environment is unknown and uncertain. The landing mechanism tends to rebound and turn over, and the landing stability time is long. However, there is difference  on the Moon and the Mars surface while most of the landing performance researches are focused on the lunar landing so far. Therefore, it is of great important to study the landing ...

ATLANTA, November 1, 2023 — Today, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released an update of its lung cancer screening guideline to help reduce the number of people dying from the disease due to smoking history. The new guideline recommends yearly screening for lung cancer for people aged 50 to 80 years old who smoke or formerly smoked and have a 20-year or greater pack-year history. The recommended annual screening test for lung cancer is a low-dose computed tomography scan (also called a low-dose CT scan, or LDCT). The guideline, last updated ...

Kuala Lumpur, 1 November 2023 An Independent Expert Group (IEG) convened by the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health (UNU IIGH) has released a strong statement criticizing the wide and uncritical use of global university rankings. The IEG highlights the vital importance of universities in delivering not just education, training, and research, but also in shaping public policy, promoting informed public discourse, and helping advance democracy and human rights. However, although marketed as a tool for improving university performance and providing information to prospective students, the statement describes how global university ...

WASHINGTON—Women in low- and middle-income countries, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, may be 10 times more likely to have obesity or heart health issues than their male counterparts, according to a large meta-analysis published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by an individual having an excess of body fat or abnormal fat accumulation. People who have obesity are at an increased risk for other serious ...